Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society

[Slacker]

Another former Facebook executive has spoken out about the harm the social network is doing to civil society around the world. Chamath Palihapitiya, who joined Facebook in 2007 and became its vice president for user growth, said he feels “tremendous guilt” about the company he helped make. “I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works,” he told an audience at Stanford Graduate School of Business, before recommending people take a “hard break” from social media.

Palihapitiya’s criticisms were aimed not only at Facebook, but the wider online ecosystem. “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we’ve created are destroying how society works,” he said, referring to online interactions driven by “hearts, likes, thumbs-up.” “No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth. And it’s not an American problem — this is not about Russians ads. This is a global problem.”

He went on to describe an incident in India where hoax messages about kidnappings shared on WhatsApp led to the lynching of seven innocent people. “That’s what we’re dealing with,” said Palihapitiya. “And imagine taking that to the extreme, where bad actors can now manipulate large swathes of people to do anything you want. It’s just a really, really bad state of affairs.” He says he tries to use Facebook as little as possible, and that his children “aren’t allowed to use that ****.” He later adds, though, that he believes the company “overwhelmingly does good in the world.”

Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society

 

[Alma]

He's right. It is, at this point, a spectacular unraveling.

 

[Dick Whitman]

He's right. It is, at this point, a spectacular unraveling.

How do you defend posting here then? (Not challenging you. I struggle with it myself. For the most part, I guess I think that this is a very healthy, honest give-and-take about current events that I don't have access to in my daily life. It doesn't feel frivolous.)

 

[Alma]

How do you defend posting here then? (Not challenging you. I struggle with it myself. For the most part, I guess I think that this is a very healthy, honest give-and-take about current events that I don't have access to in my daily life. It doesn't feel frivolous.)

If it ever became Facebook or Twitter, I'd be out.

 

[Tweener]

Of course he's right. I think anyone with any sense has known this for a while. But social media such a huge part of our culture now, and we are collectively addicted to it, so we're screwed whether we use it or not.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

The election poisoned social media.
It was not this unpleasant even five years ago.

 

[cjericho]

Not one quote from little Zucky.

 

[poindexter]

If it ever became Facebook or Twitter, I'd be out.

The worst part about this place is the multiple twitter posts, many times from randos in the twittersphere, and without comment from the poster.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Of course he's right. I think anyone with any sense has known this for a while. But social media such a huge part of our culture now, and we are collectively addicted to it, so we're screwed whether we use it or not.

The thing is, I recently re-read "Catcher in the Rye," written 60-plus years ago. It feels as vital and relevant and in touch as it did, I assume, the day it rolled off the press. Humanity is not actually changing so quickly that you have to stay constantly engaged with Twitter or Facebook in order to keep from being left behind. That's just what those sites are designed to make you feel.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Not one quote from little Zucky.

The best Zuck quote I can recall wasn't from the king Zuck himself, but from his little sis. In her book about social media, she credits Reddit users with helping solve the Boston Marathon bombing. Yeah, if you count identifying the wrong person and causing him all kind of pain and anguish, I guess Reddit users helped.

 

[cjericho]

The best Zuck quote I can recall wasn't from the king Zuck himself, but from his little sis. In her book about social media, she credits Reddit users with helping solve the Boston Marathon bombing. Yeah, if you count identifying the wrong person and causing him all kind of pain and anguish, I guess Reddit users helped.

Guess he's not going to talk for this story, but did he even call Zuck.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I was at a Christmas party the other night where people were seated at a beautiful, long dining table, and half of them were scrolling their timelines.
There are cultures around the world where this would be be considered utterly impertinent behavior.

 

[Alma]

The thing is, I recently re-read "Catcher in the Rye," written 60-plus years ago. It feels as vital and relevant and in touch as it did, I assume, the day it rolled off the press. Humanity is not actually changing so quickly that you have to stay constantly engaged with Twitter or Facebook in order to keep from being left behind. That's just what those sites are designed to make you feel.

FB is hard as hell on women, though. It's basically a giant competition of kids, half-marathons, jewelry parties, friendsgivings, pithy self-care testimonials and the like. And then Instagram, oh Lord.

With men, it seems a little different. I've got a nephew who, IMO, is a little weird, in that he likes taking and then posting 4-6 pictures a week of his GF on FB. Nothing in particular - she could be eating dinner - just, hey, here she is, she's fairly pretty, look at her, I'm kind of obsessed with her. And so I slipped him a IM saying "hey, is she OK? I noticed you'd posted a lot of pictures lately. What was that about?" And the pictures slowed down a little bit.

I wonder how often women do that. It feels like a constant one-up event, especially with moms. Especially with dance moms. Especially with dance moms who think anyone on the planet wants to read the word "bunheads."

 

[Tweener]

The thing is, I recently re-read "Catcher in the Rye," written 60-plus years ago. It feels as vital and relevant and in touch as it did, I assume, the day it rolled off the press. Humanity is not actually changing so quickly that you have to stay constantly engaged with Twitter or Facebook in order to keep from being left behind. That's just what those sites are designed to make you feel.

Fair. My wife has left Facebook, and doesn't do Twitter or Instagram, etc., and she's perfectly content.

But then there are those of us who have to do it for our jobs, and millennials who don't know any different and it begins to change us and how we interact with one another. We could decide we're done with social media, but we've allowed it to become such a big part of our culture that it's easier said than done.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Facebook is a roiling pit of insecurity on a good day.
But sometimes a picture of a kid eating a cake is just that - it is not intended to compete with anything.
If you have a negative body image or issues of self-worth, hell yes I can imagine it's murder. It's hard to get your **** together with everyone watching all the time.

 

[BTExpress]

The worst part about this place is the multiple twitter posts, many times from randos in the twittersphere, and without comment from the poster.

Absolutely. My one rule of social media is to always make a comment, in my own words, on anything I take from another site.***

*** The exceptions being obvious TV or movie images (or Wile E. Coyote cartoon images) that amplify a quoted post without further comment.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Facebook is not 1,000th as difficult on women as that devil spawn Pinterest.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

The best Zuck quote I can recall wasn't from the king Zuck himself, but from his little sis. In her book about social media, she credits Reddit users with helping solve the Boston Marathon bombing. Yeah, if you count identifying the wrong person and causing him all kind of pain and anguish, I guess Reddit users helped.

Dis she really do that? Good God - that's generally viewed as Reddit's worst moment.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Dis she really do that? Good God - that's generally viewed as Reddit's worst moment.

Yep.

Reddit, a site that played a large role in mobilizing Internet users to discover the identity of the Boston Marathon bomber a few weeks earlier, now played an important role in displaying images of missing persons and lost items displaced during the tornado, so they could be returned to their rightful owners.

 

[QYFW]

Social media has just shone a light on our worst impulses.

Having said that, I would be barely be connected to the outside world without it. Facebook allows me to keep up with friends and family and act generally interested in life, and Twitter is a great news feed.